Homework: It fails our students and undermines American education SmartBlogs Students often ask me why I don’t assign homework. “I don’t believe in it,” I quickly respond. “It doesn’t tell me what you’re learning.” They forge ahead with furrowed eyebrows. This practice of assigning homework, simply because it’ something that’s always been done, is not only absurd and outdated, it is undermining effective 21st-century teaching and learning. A few summers ago, I looked in the mirror and said, “Enough is enough; something has to change, and it has to start with my approach to teaching and learning.” So the homework stopped. Are you ready to throw out homework? Mark Barnes is a 20-year classroom teacher and adjunct professor at two Ohio colleges.
Microsoft Digital Literacy Curriculum Help your students live and thrive in the 21st century digital world with Microsoft's Digital Literacy Curriculum. These e-learning materials help you teach and assess computer concepts and skills so your students can use technology to develop new social and economic opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities. Teach students how to use computers in both school and everyday life The Digital Literacy Curriculum offers three levels of coursework: Basic, Standard, and Advanced. The Basic Curriculum offers beginners an introduction to computers, while the Standard Curriculum goes one step further with five e-learning modules: computer basics, the internet, productivity tools, digital lifestyles, and computer security. The Advanced Curriculum goes even deeper and focuses on the use of digital information to effectively find, use, summarize, evaluate, create, and communicate information. Use the curriculum to help students become digitally literate in a variety of ways:
Free Bibliography Generator - MLA, APA, Chicago citation styles A Primer on Digital Literacy Adapted from the book Digital Literacy by Paul Gilster (John Wiley & Sons, 1997) Introduction In the summer of 1996, renowned journalist Pierre Salinger wrote about a conspiracy surrounding the downing of TWA Flight 800. His proof? An e-mail message circulated on the Internet that purportedly originated from the former Safety Chairman of the Airline Pilots Association. The e-mail message was of dubious origin and could not be corroborated by any serious evidence. It was incidents such as this that prompted Paul Gilster to ask, "In a world where anyone can publish, are all publications suspect? Gilster's answers to these and other troubling questions can be found in his groundbreaking new book, Digital Literacy, just published by John Wiley & Sons (ISBN 0-471-16520-4). The following Primer on Digital Literacy is adapted from Gilster's book. For more information about Paul Gilster, Digital Literacy and his other books, please visit the Wiley Web site. E-Mail. Search Engines. Case #1.
The Kit | Reinventing School The Kit March 26th, 2011 | Brendan | | --> What on earth is Design Thinking? Why Design Thinking? Design thinking is a methodology for practical, creative resolution of problems or issues that looks for an improved future result. As a style of thinking, it is the ability to combine for the context of a problem, in the generation of insights and solutions, and to analyze and fit solutions to the context. . Read all about how the Design Thinking process drives the challenge here. This is a collection of curriculum created by the K-12 Lab at the Stanford design school and teachers who are using design thinking in their schools. The kit is split into sections for easy download. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License . Key documents Design Thinking for Educators toolkit (PDF 20.4 MB) An Educator’s Guide to Design Thinking (PDF 4.8 MB) Bootcamp bootleg (PDF 3.6MB) d.school mindsets (PDF 223 KB Supporting resources and tools
Copyright Law: From Digital Reprints to Downloads ReadWriteThink couldn't publish all of this great content without literacy experts to write and review for us. If you've got lessons plans, activities, or other ideas you'd like to contribute, we'd love to hear from you. More Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals. More Teacher Resources by Grade Your students can save their work with Student Interactives. More Home › Classroom Resources › Lesson Plans Lesson Plan Overview Featured Resources From Theory to Practice Looking at how and why copyright law has changed over time can help students better understand recent and current copyright disputes and the many perspectives involved in these ownership issues. This lesson plan was developed as part of a collaborative professional project with the American Library Association Office for Information Technology Policy and the American Association of School Librarians (AASL). back to top The U.S.
Digital Literacy Fundamentals Introduction Today’s youth are often called “digital natives” by adults because of the seemingly effortless way they engage with all things technological. It’s easy to see why: young Canadians live in an interactive, “on demand” digital culture where they are used to accessing media whenever and wherever they want. But this enthusiasm masks a potential problem: although young people don’t need coaxing to take up Internet technologies and their skills quickly improve relative to their elders, without guidance they remain amateur users of information and communications technology (ICT), which raises concerns about a generation of youth who are not fully digitally literate, yet are deeply immersed in cyberspace. In order to be literate in today’s media-rich environments, young people need to develop knowledge, values and a whole range of critical thinking, communication and information management skills for the digital age. A basic question, then, is what exactly is digital literacy? 1. 2.
CyberWise Digital Citizenship | Why It's So Important Today we communicate through a powerful combination of words, images and sounds. Therefore, becoming "media literate" requires a new set of skills that enable us not only to comprehend, but also to create and distribute information across all mediums. At CyberWise we believe that Digital Citizenship is the first step to Media Literacy. Because, just like Driver's Education prepares young people to get behind the wheel of a Learn More: car, Digital Citizenship prepares them to navigate the Information Superhighway safely and confidently. Okay, Got It. While there is still some debate as to the exact definition of the term, we like this one from Ann Collier: "Critical thinking and ethical choices about the content and impact on oneself, others, and one’s community of what one sees, says, and produces with media, devices, and technologies." Fortunately, this idea of Digital Citizenship is gaining traction (if not in the classroom, at least on the Internet!). @KevinHoneycutt
Learning happens everywhere, and so does this challenge | Reinventing School August 2nd, 2011 | Brendan | Design Thinking , Reinventing Class , Reinventing Education , Reinventing School | challenge , community , diversity , education , friends , participation , social media | I want to ensure that the entire community feels welcome and able to participate in the Reinventing School Challenge . While students and educators are most likely to be attracted to the challenge, teams can participate from many other organisations or groups. Some of you educators may feel that the current state of affairs in your school setting makes it too difficult to facilitate your students in the challenge at this time.You may be a passionate parent or youth leader who feels you want to change the way we educate our young people and want to make a difference. No problem. You can make this challenge work. One of my life missions is to encourage life-long learning, promote alternative learning environments and inspire people to live their dreams. Youth groups Find a venue. Have fun